The Shed Gaming: Zak's-Haks [002]: Eldar Crimson Hunter / Hemlock Wraithfighter

This model was not too bad to magnetize but a little more challenging than I anticipated. In the end I think I would have used some even smaller magnets like the 1/16 diameter by 1/16 instead of the 1/8 by 1/16 which I have usually considered the smallest magnets I would use. These would have been better for the wing sections as the drill bit and 1/8 ones were just about exactly the width so there was a little bit of an unclean section now that they are done. I'll show pictures of that a bit later. Here's the process pictures.

I did reference the YouTube video by Mark Valledor before I started and took a similar approach.

First note that you need to do much of the drilling and gluing of the magnets before you glue anything completely together.

The wing weapons are easy and you just need to cut the peg off of the ends and you can glue the 1/8 magnets to the ends. Then for the adapter that goes in the wings, no drilling is necessary. There is one adapter, of three different ones for some reason, that you can just sit the 1/8 sized magnet inside. Just pitch the other two adapters ( one of the extra ones shown below above the wing on the table). The underbelly pulse laser or mind shock pod can be magnetized in the same way. However that specific adapter piece has to be drilled to house the same 1/8 sized magnet.

The back section for the crimson hunter exarch piece or regular piece I did just like Mark. Just drill and glue a small magnet into one end of that 'core' section and then into the backs of the optional pieces. There is just enough depth in those pieces to get the magnets to sit relatively flush with the pieces. This magnet is slightly exposed when using the wraith fighter option but in my opinion not a big deal. I'll paint this black anyway and it'll probably not be noticeable.

The center pieces right behind the cockpit are a little tricky and I took a slightly different approach on this section. I didn't want to use too many magnets on this part so I figured out a way to just have one in the body and one on each of the optional pieces. I also didn't have any 1/16 magnets to fit in the sides of the crimson hunter piece at this location like in the referenced video.

By just recessing slightly the back of the optional pieces, you can basically just surface mount the magnet. Watch out however as this plastic is very thin at these locations. For the magnet in the main body, if you use a larger magnet and dremel a little shelf in the back of the body, this magnet will sit deeper in the body, and the small magnet on the optional pieces will go through the hole and also become recessed into the main body. Just make sure the hole is slit lay larger than the magnets you are attaching to the optional pieces. If you drill the hole first in the main body, you can then dry fit the optional pieces, and trace on them from below, where the magnet needs to be attached. This should be relatively clear in the image below.

The wings are a little strange and again I took a similar approach as Mark. Just carve away some of the body flanges that are meant to accept glue for the wing pieces, then recess a piece of left over sprue to the underside to glue the body magnets too. Then drill some magnets into the wing pieces. Here is where I should have used smaller magnets in the wings but I really wasn't paying attention and drilled the 1/8 diameter ones without thinking as they are the smallest I currently had. This created a bit of a sloppy connection as the magnet diameter goes outside of the wings ever so slightly on the sides. My body magnets ended up being slightly higher than the body flange also so the Wong pieces sit a very tiny amount above the body. Close enough for me at this time, but the next one I will probably try to do a little better (assuming I get another).

Notice how the magnets come up a little highest of the body...these should have been drilled into the sprue piece a bit to lower them. Of course I realized this after I had already glued everything in place...